We all remained perfectly still as the officer approached our
car and began inspecting it with his flashlight. Luckily we had taken the beer
and guns with us, but we still weren't sure how we were going to explain what
we were doing. We all decided to hold tight and see what happened next.
Our hope was that the police officer would simply run our tags and go on with his patrol. The officer returned to his car, but didn't move from his post on the other side of the gate. After about fifteen minutes, we decided that we needed to “bite the bullet” and go talk to him.
Just as we were about to make our move we saw another vehicle approaching down the maintenance road. This one was a large SUV, also from the City of Florence Police department. This officer repeated the routine of inspecting our tactical Camry with his flashlight. After some brief discussion, the two officers returned to their respective cars and sat in idle patience.
This time we all decided it would be best if we talked to them. Chad and I left the comfort of our hide in the brush, and approached the car of the officer closest to the gate. We were about ten feet from the back of the first car when the officer in the SUV spotted us and jumped out of his vehicle.
“Hold it right there! Get your hands against the vehicle!” The guy screamed.
I can’t say that I was surprised by his reaction, seeing two
guys walk out of the dark wearing full camouflage. It didn’t take long for the second cop to jump
out either.
“What the hell are you guys doing out here?” said the second cop, asking the million dollar question.
That’s when Chad came up with what ended up being a million
dollar answer.
“Hello officers, I actually work here at the golf course, and my supervisor said it would be ok if we came out after dark to play capture the flag. You see, it’s a game we've been playing since we were kids and, we didn't want to disturb anyone in town.”
It seemed like an eternity had passed before the second officer replied to our obvious excuse for being there. He knew we weren't telling the truth, but was going to give us the benefit of the doubt. He had another surprise up his sleeve for us.
“Ok, well, we will just need you guys to come up here to the club house. The course supervisor is on his way out here and he can confirm that for us.”
“…….Shit!” We both thought to ourselves.
We explained to them that we still had two friends out in the field somewhere, needed to go get them. Leaving the beer, guns, and other gear in the field, Karen and Trailer joined us in the back of the patrol car.
They drove us up to the club house where we waited for another eternity for the supervisor to show up and sentence us to certain arrest, jail time, and execution from our families and girlfriends.
After about twenty minutes the supervisor showed up. By this
time it was about 2:00am and he was not entirely thrilled about being called
out of bed.
The officers spoke with him for a while, and then asked Chad to come over while the rest of us waited in the back of the patrol cars. Finally, Chad and the officer came back and got back in the vehicle.
“Well, it looks like you guys are off the hook. I’m taking you back to your car. I want you guys to go home and not come back out here.” Said the officer looking back at us through the cage that all police cars have.
He returned us to our vehicle. Relieved, we hopped back in the Camry and took off. It turned out that the supervisor was not the guy Chad had arranged the hunt with, but he knew Chad was a good guy and didn't say anything to the cops.
Although we didn't get to hunt skunks that night, we also didn’t go to jail. A fair trade I think. But before we went home there was still one problem. Our guns and gear were still in the field at the end of the dead end road, and the cops weren't leaving. We had to get them back. We had to get them back, before the cops found them…
-To Be Continued
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